


Book One: Truths

by IcyStarlight



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, Yu-Gi-Oh! Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Angst, Gen, Temporary Character Death, This is such a mess tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-22 00:02:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11955501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IcyStarlight/pseuds/IcyStarlight
Summary: Yuya is the only avatar in history to have mastered all four elements by the age of fourteen. Having moved around his whole life, he has spent almost every day for as long as he can remember training with the four masters. When things go wrong and everything he knows falls apart, he has no choice but to try and do something. But there’s a lot more waiting for him in Neo Domino City than anyone could have ever expected.There is no doubt the world is in dire need of its avatar, but is Yuya truly ready to face a world he’s never experienced before? Will he be able to bear the weight of a dying world on his shoulders or will he fall like those who have come before him?





	1. The World's Greatest Performance

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize in advance for any errors found while reading this. It's as good as I could currently get it put together with how hectic irl is right now, but I hope someone still can enjoy it regardless.

“Dad! Dad! Look what Yuya can do!” A chorus of giggles echoed through the room as the sound of bare feet against hardwood came from down the hall. Putting the paper down on the kitchen table, Sakaki Yushou turned to the approach of his two youngest sons.

Yugo was pulling Yuya along by the hand. While Yugo stared excitedly at him with those bright blue eyes, Yuya was trying to hide his giggling with his other hand. 

“What am I looking at now?” 

“Look at Yuya can do! C’mon Yuya show him, show him!” Yugo pointed at his brother and bounced around him. When he didn’t budge, Yugo settled for pulling on the hand covering his brother’s mouth. The giggling grew louder as Yugo pinned Yuya’s hands down but Yushou didn’t know what he was supposed to be looking for.

“Alright Yugo, stop manhandling your brother and let him go. If he wants to show me something, he doesn’t need you to push him to do it.” Separating the two boys, he pulled Yugo off Yuya and into his lap. Yuya put both of his free hands over his mouth, but didn’t stop his giggle fit.

“Yeah Yugo, don’t panhamble me!” pulling his hands away from his mouth to talk, he erupted into a new fit of giggling before hiccuping. A small wisp of flame appeared and then vanished as Yuya clamped both hands over his mouth again. The room grew quiet as Yuya stared at him wide-eyed. 

“See! Did you see that Dad? Yuya is a dragon! He’s a dragon! He breaths fire!” Yugo yelled and squirmed out of his grip. Sliding to the floor he bounced around Yuya laughing loudly, “I’m related to a dragon! This is the best day ever!” 

Yugo’s antics got Yuya giggling again and it was only a matter of seconds till it happened again. Yuya hiccuped and another small wisp of flame appeared. Yugo swatted at it and Yuya chased after him. Yushou could only watch in shock as small wisps off flame appeared around the room only to fade out in mere seconds. Every time Yuya hiccuped, it happened. His son was hiccuping fire.

While it wasn’t unheard of for children to tap into their bending potential at extremely young ages - some even doing so before they could walk - he had never heard of a child who could breath fire. It took a whole lifetime to achieve that skill. Only three previous masters in history could do it, the current fire bending master couldn’t do it! Yet, here was his three year old son, hiccupping flames as he chased after his brother. 

Yuri couldn’t move a rock more than twenty feet and that was considered prodigy level. He wondered how powerful Yuya would be in three years when he got to Yuri’s age.   
If Yuri was a prodigy, it made sense that Yuya was the avatar. His youngest had tried to spar like his big brothers did and ended up bending the other elements that were thrown at him. When Yuto had run into his study panting, he had feared for the worst, but this was a pleasant surprise. Yuya was using his new found earthbending skills to not only outmaneuver Yuri’s own earthbending attacks but also overtake his eldest with only a few moves. 

Yoko had merely laughed at the news saying that raising four boys was hard enough, how much more trouble would it be if one of them happened to be the avatar? But they were never prepared for the complications the new avatar would bring into their lives.

It all happened so fast. One day Yuya had woken him and Yoko up with a complaint of not feeling well. Then the next morning he was barely breathing and no doctor in Maiami City could figure out what was wrong with his son. The four year old looked so fragile tucked into his parent’s large bed under so many blankets. Everyday he was getting weaker, so much so that Yushou had reached out to an old friend, the Master Healer of the Southern Water Tribe in hope that something, anything could help his son. He hoped that by the time his friend came that it would not be too late.

Severals weeks passed and he feared Yuya’s time was running out. He no longer woke more than once a day and when he was awake he was not lucid. Only Yugo had hope that Yuya would get better. The twins, Yuto and Yuri, tried to take care of their brother while he and Yoko were with Yuya, but they were almost as fragile as Yoko was. His wife barely left Yuya’s side. It was for the first time in a month that she had not fallen asleep in the chair next to the bed but rather out on the couch with the other boys. Yushou watched over his youngest son and he couldn’t help but fear for the worst. The Master Healer would arrive tomorrow, but what if Yuya didn’t make it till then? 

The hours ticked by, he kept looking between Yuya and the door. If Yuya might not make it then he should wake Yoko and the boys so they could say their goodbyes. Then in the dead of night when he thought he was about to go wake his family, it happened. 

Yuya’s eyes snapped open and glowed white. The ground shook, the fan on the ceiling spun around at full force, the lantern on the beside table grew brighter and brighter as its flame grew tenfold, and the water glass on the beside table shattered as the water in it shifted between frozen and liquid. 

Years with the white lotus had left him with his fair share of knowledge of the avatar, but he knew his son awakening the avatar state at a time like this was not good news. When the fan slowed to a stop and the only sign of what had just happened was the shattered glass on the floor by the bedside table, he approached the bed cautiously. But it was as if nothing had changed. 

At least until he noticed Yuya wasn’t breathing. Feeling for a pulse, his son’s heart rate had slowed to almost a complete stop. A second look allowed him to notice Yuya was breathing, just barely though. Nothing could wake him up. Sitting with his head in his hands, he thought about what he should do. 

There would be people who would come for him. Just like those who came for the avatars before him. It was rare for white lotus members to see more than two avatars in their lifetime, but the world was much more dangerous than it once was. In his lifetime so far, Yushou had lived through three avatars. Yuya would be the fourth avatar he had been alive for. Avatar Ray had died in the spirit war just five years ago. Avatar Tasuku had died right before he had joined the white lotus. Avatar Amni when he was a baby. Both of the latter incarnations hadn’t even lived to be nine. They were never even told of their status as the avatar. Avatar Ray had lived to be sixteen and had just begun her duties as the avatar when she was killed.

He feared Yuya would face the same fate. If he survived this sickness, how much time would he have left before someone came after him? With the avatar state now being awoken, the world would know of its new avatar and people would hunt down his son like they had those who had come before him. It had taken all the white lotus’ effort to keep the new avatar a secret from the world and those who would hunt him down, but now that had just all been thrown away. 

By the time the Master Healer and the other master benders arrived before dawn, Yushou had prepared for the worst. Even if his son would survive this, he would be hunted down just like those before him. 

Apparently the avatar spirit waking had been trying to save Yuya’s life by sending his son’s spirit to the spirit world. Clasping Yuya’s small hand in his own he looked at the youngest member of his family and then to the family den where the rest of his family was. His boys and Yoko had all passed out from exhaustion and worry, waiting for the youngest member to be okay again.

But his worst fear came to be when he learned that the Academia was already gearing up to hunt down and kill the newest avatar. With his youngest on his deathbed, his family to protect, and the responsibility as a member of the white lotus to protect the avatar, Yushou made his decision.

 

Two days later, the world was mourning the loss of its newest avatar. A young boy, not even old enough to go to school, had come down with an unknown illness that turned fatal. The Sakaki family had a closed casket funeral, none of them being able to bear the thought of seeing the youngest member of their family the same way they had two mornings ago bundled up in bed. The lively boy full of smiles and laughs, frail and white as a ghost. 

Sakaki Yushou watched his wife cry. He watched his eldest sons try and explain to his middle - his now - youngest son, that his brother was not coming back home anytime soon. He sat through a funeral and watched the casket be lowered into the ground. He lifelessly thanked everyone who approached him with their condolences and well wishes for the family. He sent his wife and the three boys to stay with a family friend in Neo Domino City, so they wouldn’t have to stay in the house where Yuya died before they moved from Maiami. 

He stared at the grave marked for Sakaki Yuya. The one that read exactly five years between the two dates of birth and death. The gravestone that read loving son, brother, and dragon defender. He stared at the spot where everything he had tried so hard to protect was buried and walked away. His son, Sakaki Yuya, may have been buried there, but the avatar still lived on.

Even if it meant lying to the whole world. Lying to his wife who still cried for hours a day. Lying to Yuri and Yuto who wouldn’t let Yugo out of their sight for more than five minutes. Lying to Yugo who still couldn’t grasp what had happened to his little brother. Even if he carried this secret to his grave. Even if it was the thing to kill him. He would protect the avatar, he would protect his son from the world. 

 

Two weeks later he stepped through a portal to the spirit world in the South Pole. A walk aways, he watched a young boy smile as he noticed Yushou approach. Yuya ran up to him and laughed when Yushou threw him into the air. 

He had asked the masters to protect and teach his son away from the rest of the world so that he wouldn’t have the same fate as those before him. Known to only a select few, there was a place where the spirit world bridged close to their world and though not possible anywhere else in the spirit realm, you could bend in that area. The masters would stay with Yuya there and train him. 

But Yushou wanted to do more to make sure Yuya would not fall like those before him. So when he knew the masters would already be in the spirit world with Yuya’s spirit. Before he took the body left behind to the spirit world with him, he made sure no one would go after his son. He faked Yuya’s death. 

He would do anything to protect his son until he could protect himself. Even if Yuya would never forgive him when he learned the truth. He would live with the consequences and bear the burden of the dying world alone till Yuya could take it from him. He only hoped that it would be enough.


	2. Whispers from the Past

_Ten Years Later_

_“Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the first semi-final match of the pro bending world championship!”_

The crowd went wild but up in the box seats of the stadium a small dragon who was wrapped around a man’s shoulders yawned.

_“This year it’s a Maiami versus Neo Domino showdown. Maiami’s two teams the home favorite, the LDS Allstars and the mystery of the probending world, the Phantoms. Neo Domino’s two teams the Warriors and the Dragons who have faced each other now three times for the championship title.”_

The man stood and walked towards the railing overlooking the stadium. The dragon unwound itself from the man and scampered down his arm onto the railing. Finding the announcer’s box, the dragon squealed in delight, but before it could make any move off the railing a pair of hands grabbed it around its mid-section.

“No Odd-Eyes you cannot go visit right now, you have to stay up here with us.” squirming its way out of her hands, Odd-Eyes gave a pout at Yuzu before making its way up onto her head where it perched. 

“She is right, you have to remain out of sight from the public. Given recent history they would not react well to seeing a spirit dragon out and about no matter how small it may be.” Odd-Eyes blew a wisp of flame at the man who merely chuckled at the dragon in response. 

“Tonight’s matchup is between the best bending school in the Fire Nation, Maiami’s own LDS Allstars and last year’s champions from Neo Domino, the Dragons!”

“Fire Lord Reiji, Mokuba wants to know if you wanted to be announced to the public or if you wanted to remain unnoticed.” Sora entered the box from behind Yuzu and she turned to greet him, turning Odd-Eyes towards him as well. 

“I would prefer to remain unnoticed for the time being, but tell him that I would like to speak to him later once today’s match is done with.” Reiji turned to look at Odd-Eyes perched on Yuzu’s head and glared at the small creature. “Take Odd-Eyes with you when you leave, he almost scared the entirety of the stadium by trying to fly and greet Mokuba.”

Odd-Eyes merely blew another wisp of flame at the man in response, but moved onto Sora’s outstretched arm when it was presented to him anyways. “Of course Fire Lord Reiji, would you like me to return here after or attend to the other matter we have discussed.”

“The others are currently attending to the other matter so you should return here when you are done delivering the news. Then Yuzu can step out and go sit with her family to cheer on her friends. Even if the public does not know I am here, it would look strange for one of the Fire Lord’s personal guards to cheer for the opposing team.”

“Of course your majesty I will return momentarily then.” Sora bowed and Odd-Eyes took the opportunity to move from his arm to his shoulders and curl around his neck like he had with Reiji earlier. Sora closed the door to the box behind him and as it clicked shut he grabbed Odd-Eyes off his shoulder and threw the dragon at the wall. 

Odd-Eyes roared at him, but Sora just walked away. Shaking itself off, Odd-Eyes chased after Sora who was already down the corridor. Running around the earthbender’s feet, the dragon tried to get his attention but Sora just kept walking. Crying out, Odd-Eyes stopped its pursuit and sat on the ground. 

With a small breath of fire the heterochromatic eyed dragon slowly transformed into a young boy with red eyes. Brushing off his white probending uniform as he stood, Yuya pushed the hair out of his face and pulled up the red bandana around his neck to cover his face. Walking around as Odd-Eyes would scare the living daylights out of people, but walking around as Sakaki Yuya would too. After all, both of them were supposed to be long dead.

He was about to go after Sora, he really was, but when he noticed the upper rafters over the stadium he couldn’t help but step out onto them to watch the match below. The Dragons currently held a two to one lead over the LDS Allstars in the current round. Having trained with the Allstars, he could tell Masumi was running out of ideas on how to counter her two opponents left in the ring. With both her teammates already knocked out of the ring, she couldn’t launch any coordinated attacks like her opponents were doing. She was a strong earthbender, captain of the Allstars, and could even take him down occasionally. 

These attacks that were slowly forcing her back into the third zone seemed all over the place at first glance were actually well coordinated and expert planning on part of the two benders left for the Dragons. The airbender and earthbender worked in quick succession launch rapid fire attacks from all angles while pushing Masumi backwards. With nowhere left to go, all it took was one well timed hit to knock her off balance and into the pool of water below. 

_“And Masumi goes down! The Dragons now hold the match one to zero as the first round comes to an end. Will the LDS Allstars be able to gain their footing once more or will the Sakaki brother’s onslaught of attacks be too much heat for the Maiami team to handle?”_

The second round kicked off and once again the Dragons took the Allstars down like dominos. He was about to move back towards the box seats before Reiji all his personal guards to find him when a blast of air sent him skidding across the metal walkway. Grabbing the edge of the nearby rafters, Yuya hoisted himself up and looked for his attacker. Just as the second round bell tolled signaling the start of the match, a blast of water knocked him forward almost sending him plummeting to the ring far below. 

Where were his attackers, he couldn’t see them anywhere nearby. Staying on guard he peered down to match below as the last bender for the Dragons was sent flying of the ring by a earth disk. Something hard hit him in the gut and knocked the air from his lungs. Clutching the railing behind him, he sunk to his knees and tried to regain his bearings. Why now of all times did this have to happen? Why was it always at the worst times she had to send him these messages? 

Barely making sure he wouldn’t go careening off the walkway if he took another spirit hit from the match below, he let the darkness swallow his vision as his world connected to his previous incarnation’s. 

Avatar Ray sat next to his body on the catwalk looking down on the stadium. Her eyes were sad and he almost didn’t want to hear what she would have to say no matter how important it might be. 

The aftermath of the spirit war with the deaths of both Avatar Ray and the Supreme Dragon Spirit King left the world connected to the spirit world permanently. At random times in random places the two would crossover and Yuya would be able to speak with his previous incarnation Ray. 

They never had very long though, maybe a few minutes max when he was awake and actively talking to her. A few hours if she was just trying to tell him something through his dreams by showing him memories. Reiji speculated that it was because of how she died. Though most of the details of Avatar Ray’s death had been altered by the Academia in their account of how they defeated the spirit king, there was no denying Ray had died by the hands of spirit energy. Whether it was the Academia’s weapons or the spirit king’s energy, he had yet to figure out. There was no denying the large hole left in her spirit was the cause of her death though. 

“They are good.” she said looking down at the Dragons who claimed the next round for themselves leaving the score two to one, “I can definitely see the resemblance though, you must remain cautious. Our enemies grow stronger by the day.” 

“They’re not in danger though right? The Academia and the Sealers think I’m dead. There is no reason they should become targets.” Yuya watched his brothers in the ring below. He remembered when his dad had told him everything. 

How he faked Yuya’s death when he was younger. That he had a mom and three older brothers. That his entire childhood with a family had been robbed from him because his dad was afraid. Afraid that Yuya would never get to experience it anyways, but that was his dad’s doing and not the Academias. He wished he hadn’t run away that night because now his dad was missing. Any questions he still had were never going to be answered and he was left on his own with only a few people who knew that the avatar still lived. 

“They’re in as much danger as any bender in this city. Being well-known probenders only increases that now that they’re also in the finals again for their third year in a row.” 

“Which is why we need to stop the Sealers now more than ever.” it had to be done and he was going to be the one to do it.

“But yet you keep yourself from your family knowing they would possible be better protected if they knew you were still alive.” her voice dropped low, eyes full of sadness that never faded away.

“It’s for the best, there is no way they would believe me. Besides, its for the best, I have to focus on being the avatar.” he looked back down to the arena where the Dragons had claimed their place in the finals. 

A hand on his shoulder made him turn to Ray, tears flowed down her cheeks and for the first time since she showed herself, he could truly feel the regret and sorrow she had been keeping from him, “Do not ignore the ones you love Yuya, do not make the same mistakes I did because by the time you realize what you have lost it will be too late.”

“The mistakes you made?” but it was too late, she had vanished yet again, “Why do you always have to be so cryptic Ray? I swear only Yugi was ever that cryptic.” Using the ropes holding up the catwalk, he hoisted himself up from where he sat on the ledge. He should go back to Reiji before the man sent half his guard after him.

Setting off across the rafters, he quickly realized that he was not alone up on his perch. A group of hooded figures stood at the other end of the overlook. They stared down at the ring below before turning away and heading back down the corridor. Deciding that Reiji could wait in favor of beating up some Sealers, he followed them. 

 

The group must have noticed him following behind them at some point, because once they reached the grand staircase that lead from the upper deck down to the rest of the stadium they stopped. “So you’re one of the phantoms, what’s with all the sneaking around?” The group turned to face him and honestly if there was an award for having the worst luck in the world, it would be his. Two out of three people in front of him he knew. There was a teenager on the left that he didn’t know but the kid was probably a powerful bender. The Masters didn’t let anyone be their students after all, you had to be the best of the best. 

The teen had green eyes and if he could feel the pressure in the glare the teen was sending him. It was like he was trying to stare into his soul. No one made a move, but when he didn’t answer, the teen glared at him more. “Well by the belt, he should be an airbender but I can’t feel anything from him. He’s a bender for sure though, the Fire Lord wouldn’t risk backing a team that didn’t fight clean.” 

So the kid could see something others couldn’t. Probably something caused by the collapsing spirit world. That meant the kid might not be a bender after all. But regardless it’s not like he could fight them. The Phantoms would be kicked from the tournament before the sun rose tomorrow if he fought them while in this gear. 

They couldn’t find out who he was though. He would lose any element of surprise he had on the sealers if he teamed up with the Masters now. Months of planning thrown out the window just like that.

That and he was definitely not prepared to be on the receiving end of several lectures.

Yusei pulled off his hood held his hand out to Yuya. “We haven’t gotten a chance to meet yet, I’m Fudo Yusei. Though judging by your reaction I take it you already knew that.” Yuya couldn’t help but flinch, why did he have to be such a terrible liar? “Then I’m assuming you know Yuma too?”

Yuma would probably recognize his voice if he spoke. He had spent so much time with the airbending Master that there was no way he wouldn’t. So that meant he couldn’t speak, but if the teen they were with could see people’s spirits or something then he’d be able to tell that Yuya could speak. Or at least that’s what he remembered from his lessons about people’s spirits years ago. So he just nodded and then gestured to the teen with them.

“I’m not anyone you need to know unless we can know who you are.” the teen glared at him some more. Gesturing to his bandana and his neck, he hoped to convey that he couldn’t talk. “Well I just think it’s strange that you say you can’t talk but I don’t see why you can’t. You know I what I can see, why still try to lie? Unless you’re hiding something important.”

“Oh come on now, clearly the Fire Lord trusts him, why can’t we.” Yuma pointed out the fact that Reiji did in fact endorse the Phantoms for this tournament. “But you know who we are, you can trust us. Are you running from someone?” 

Other than the crushing weight of his responsibilities and more secrets than anyone should ever have to keep, he wasn’t really running from anything. Hiding from things? Yes. Running? Not really. 

Shaking his head no, he really debated just telling them the truth. That was until he saw his savior coming down the hall. Reiji and Sora walked down the hallway from the left, he was saved!

“Oh there you are, Sora said you stopped following him a while ago and I hope that means you weren’t getting into trouble. Masters,” he said nodding in greeting, “it is always good to see you. Especially in such troubling times.”

“Troubling times? You wouldn’t happen to be talking about the Seal of Orichalcos and their activity in Neo Domino would you?” Leave it to Yuma to be straightforward about things. 

“Let’s continue this conversation somewhere more, secure.” Reiji motioned for the Masters and their charge to follow him down the stairs. He raised an eyebrow at Yuya when he walked by but said nothing. Sora on the other hand stayed a few steps behind. When the Masters and their charge turned around again, he motioned for Sora to go ahead.Sora rolled his eyes and jogged up to Reiji as the group descended down the stairs. 

Wow, he couldn’t believe he got out of that keeping all his secrets.

“Yuya, are you coming?” Reiji turned and called from the staircase. Sora stood next to him with that awful smirk on his face like a victory medal. Yuya could only watch in horror as the Masters connected the dots. 

He was going to kill Sora. That is, if he didn’t die first.


	3. What was Forgotten

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU!” Wincing, Yuya tried to shrink into the floor yet again as he sat through the Fire Master’s wrath. No one had tried to stop Yugi once he saw Yuya and started yelling. Judai had tried to calm him down but ended up cowering away under Yugi’s glare. The same glare that had kept him glued to his spot on the floor so long that he couldn’t feel his ankles anymore. “NOT ONCE DID YOU THINK TO CONTACT US! NOT ONCE!”

“With all due respect Fire Master, I know you must have been worried. I was when-” Reiji sat off to the side. He looked perfectly calm but Yuya knew Reiji enough to hear the irritation in his voice.

“THREE YEARS! HE WAS JUST GONE ONE DAY! IT’S BEEN THREE YEARS! HE COULD’VE BEEN DEAD!” The second Yugi directed his anger over to Reiji, Yuya breathed a little sigh of relief.

Reiji calmly adjusted his glasses before continuing, “-he was nearly dead when I found him.”

Oh right, he had forgotten about that.

“What?” 

“Maybe if you asked him why he suddenly disappeared, he could explain himself.”

Yugi sighed, “Alright, I guess I do want answers to why you and your father suddenly vanished with no explanation.”

That made him confused - which was odd because he was normally making others confused. “Dad said that he had told you guys we were leaving though,” the various head shakes from around the room left him with a horrible feeling in his gut. “Dad left about a month after he we left the spirit world saying how he had to go and investigate something.”

“Yuya,” Yugi’s voice dropped, “we haven't seen your father in years. Not since you were still training with Yuma. We had no idea he had come to get you. We thought you had been kidnapped or something but most of your things were gone.”

“Does anyone know where he is?” No one would look at him. None of the Masters would meet his eyes. No. He couldn’t lose his dad.

“Sorry Yuya, but no one has any idea. Even your mother hasn't seen him in three years and he's never gone that long from the rest of your family.”

He didn’t know what to say to that. 

Behind Yugi, Judai pushed off the wall he had been leaning on with his foot. When he offered a hand out he let Judai pull him off of the ground. “I know you want answers but we want them to, where have you been for the past three years? It’s like you fell of the face of the world only to show up with the Fire Lord like nothing ever happened.” 

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he told them what happened since his dad came to get him. That in the middle of the night, his dad had shown up and said they were leaving for a special training trip. His dad took him to the ruins of the ancient sun warriors and had him study their way of firebending.

About a month of them being there, his dad left him with the supplies he had brought along for the year long trip and said he had to go investigate something. That he shouldn’t be gone more than three weeks. But a month passed and his dad didn’t come back. Eventually he had gone looking around the ruins for clues as to where his dad had gone. Instead he found something else.

Half of the ruins were filled with the remnants of the spirit world. The spirit world had collapsed in that area, blurring into the real world. The only thing that remained of the area was a dragon spirit. The mighty beast was bleeding heavily, someone or something had been trying to kill it. At first he had been afraid of the spirit, but he couldn’t stay away from it. Every time he tried to leave the room, it felt like he was actually the one dying and not the spirit dragon. So he helped it. 

Slowly but surely the spirit got better. The dragon introduced itself as Odd-Eyes. He was the one who taught Yuya about the Sun Warriors. Over the course of a year, he forgot his dad was supposed to come back (like he'd ever actually been around longer than a few months). It was just him and Odd-Eyes exploring the ruins and firebending. He pushed aside all his responsibilities and for once, didn't feel like the world was out to get him. He let his guard down. 

That's what got Odd-Eyes killed. 

Two months after that first year, the people who tried to kill Odd-Eyes before came back. They hadn't found the dragon spirit but knew he would be close enough to a small village half a mile from the ruins to come to it's rescue if he was still alive. And they had been right. Once he and Odd-Eyes had seen the smoke, they went as fast as they could to the village. 

He didn't remember most of the fight. He hit his head at some point during it. He remembers enemies in green with infinity symbols in their masks. They had been too late to save a majority of the villagers. That's one thing he did remember. That and the village was where Odd-Eyes died. Amongst the flames and ruined houses, the spirit faded from this world and left him all alone again. He knows, he knows he should have died in that village with his friend. But Odd-Eyes had saved Yuya with the last of his remaining power. By binding a part of his soul to Yuya’s, Odd-Eyes gave him another chance to right things.

Having your soul bound with another was not as cool as it sounded. He didn't remember most of it, but in the morning, Fire Nation soldiers came. That was when he met Reiji. 

It took the better part of a year for him to adjust to the gift Odd-Eyes left him with. By the time he did recover and learn to use his new powers, a group calling themselves the sealers started to appear in Maiami. Using Probending to find and target powerful benders, they started to attack people and seal away their souls. That was when he became the Phantom, and then with Sora and Sawatari, the became the team known as the Phantoms. It was to stop the sealers in Maiami but when wind of sealer activity in Neo Domino arose, they wound up trying for the championship to lure the sealers out once and for all. That's what brought them to be here now. 

That was mostly it more or less. It was kind of a blur for the most part considering he spent about half of that time as a dragon. That and there was about a month where he was out cold in bed apparently, but he couldn’t say anything on it because he couldn’t remember.

The room was silent for a minute. The silence allowed the situation to sink in for him. Two opposite sides of his life had come together. No one had died. No one was hurt. No one seemed to be mad at him. Maybe this wouldn’t be as originally thought it would be. 

“A dragon spirit? You merged souls with a dragon spirit?” 

“Ah!” jumping back into a defensive position, he nearly whacked Judai in the face as he had suddenly appeared in front of him. 

“I’ll admit, it was quite the surprise to learn what had happened, especially with Yuya being barely a teenager at the time.” Reiji stood from his chair and smoothed out his clothes, “While I do think it’s important to figure everything out and learn exactly what we’re up against, I believe it is best if we continue to do so in the morning. These two have a match not long from now and most of us will be expected to make public appearances. It would look suspicious if we were all tired and or late to these engagements.” 

“That does make sense. I suppose we can figure this out tomorrow once we have slept on things.” Yusei walked forward and pulled Judai away from him. Ruffling Yuya’s hair, Yusei motioned for the teen that had been with him earlier to follow. 

Yuma and Judai waved at him as the exited behind them and Yugi gave him a smile before turning to leave to. However he stopped and turned back to face the remaining three in the room. There was something in the look on his face that Yuya couldn’t put a finger on, but he didn’t like it. 

“By the way Yuya, make sure you let your friends in on the whole avatar thing as well.” With a mock salute, Yugi left and shut the door behind him. Leaving Yuya with some more explaining to do yet again to people who weren’t entirely to happy with him at the moment.

“Yuya. What did Master Yugi mean by ‘the whole avatar thing’?” Reiji gave him a cold stare, his voice calm but cold as ice.

“Um… well you see, uh, funny story, actually…” 

“Yuya.” a stone cold voice came from behind him as a hand grasped his shoulder. When did Sora get behind him!? “You’re not keeping more secrets are you, Yuya?” 

Why did this always have to happen to him?

 

After being chewed out by the Masters, then also being chewed out by Reiji and Sora. He could definitely say he was dreading their group meeting this morning. After all, what would they even want to talk about? Well the sealers for sure and probably the tournament, but where was his place in this all anymore anyways? Was he still just the phantom bender? Was he the avatar? Was he both? What was going to happen now? All these questions and no answers! Story of his life.

Good thing Yuzu would be spending the week with her family and he wouldn’t have to explain this to her. Not because she would hate him or anything, but because she would immediately be able to connect the dots between him and his brothers. He was actually kinda surprised no one else had mentioned it yet considering once you saw him and one of his brothers there was no denying the connection. 

And that was one conversation he did not want to have. 

He didn’t want to have any of these conversations but here he was anyways. Sitting in this meeting hall with Sora on his left and Reiji on his right, waiting for the Masters. He wondered if that teenager with them yesterday would be with them again today. 

“Oh good, you’re already here so are we ready to start?” He didn’t even know who started the meeting but when the Master’s entered the room that teenager was there. Who was he? It’s not like he didn’t trust the kid, anyone the Masters would trust enough to have around all the time must be fine, but why did he feel like he’d seen the kid before?

“-ya, hey Yuya, Yuya!” a hand was being waved in front of his face. 

“Huh, wha?” sitting up he saw the room staring at him with various levels of concern.

“How long have you been zoned out? You did hear about the plan right?” Sora questioned him and when he nodded, he could tell Sora didn’t believe him. “So tomorrow we’ll meet at Kaiba corp at nine.”

Others around the room gave various levels of agreement before Yuya zoned out again. He still couldn’t figure out why that other teen looked so familiar. But Sora smacked the back of the head and said something about getting ready for tonight’s match. He’d just have to figure it out tomorrow.


	4. The Lost Story

_“Welcome back to the semi finals here in Neo Domino City for the Probending world Championship title! This year it’s a Maiami vs Neo Domino showdown as the two top teams from each city face off. Tonight the Warriors will face off against the Phantoms!”_

A knock on the door came and a gruff voice yelled from the otherside, “Two minutes Phantoms!”

_“The Warriors won the title three years ago when they first entered the Probending world and held it for two years till The Dragons claimed it last year. The Warriors stand strong as a team with their amazing combination attacks as true brothers in battle, or sisters in this case. The three Hiiragi sisters are truly a force to be reckoned with but will they be able to take down their mysterious opponents?”_

“Ready Phantom?” Sora placed a hand on his shoulder and he nodded. 

Sawatari tied the red belt around his waist before raising an eyebrow at Sora’s action, “Are you sure we don’t have to hold back? Do you really want to crush them like this?”

Sora rolled his eyes, “What are you sorry to win Sawatari?”

“No, I just don’t like the idea we have to fight so brutally against Yuzu’s sisters.” 

“Please, they would kick your ass in three seconds flat if we gave them the chance. So we’re not going to let them have a chance to do anything. Though, if you’re really that worried about it, I’m sure you’d learn quickly after they kick your ass right off the ring.”

_“Though they’re backed by the Fire Lord himself, they came out of seemingly nowhere and destroyed any competition they’ve come across so far. With the mysterious bender known as the Phantom as their leader, the two LDS students Shiunin Sora and Sawatari Shingo make up the Phantoms. We’re about to see once fierce matchup as both teams enter the ring.”_

With a sigh, Sawatari walked over to the door to the arena and left the room. Sora turned from the door to stare at him again. Was there something on his face? Why did he keep giving him such strange looks?

“Are you sure you’re ready to go? You’ve been out of it all day. Is it those weird dreams again?” Oh, so that’s what this was about. Shaking his head he stood up and gave Sora two thumbs up with a beaming smile. Sora merely rolled his eyes at him and punched his arm. “Well then pull up your bandana and let’s get this show on the road.” 

After making sure to hide the bottom half of his face with his red bandana, he followed Sora out the door to the arena where Sawatari was already waiting across the gap. Sora gave him the puppy dog eyes when looking down the ladder and over to other ladder up to the arena. Taking a look at the crowd, he thought of whether or not to help Sora cross with his airbending or to get back at the twerp for yesterday’s revelations. 

Man he would have to stop spending so much time around Sora if he was catching the earthbender’s pettiness. With a push at his teammate, he sent Sora flying off the edge into the pool of water below. It did put him closer to the other platform with the ladder up to the ring, but he would also be soaking wet. Sora glared at him from down below and he merely gave a mock salute before vaulting himself off the edge and propelling himself with air over to the ring. Sawatari shook his head at their antics as the referee’s and the Warriors walked onto the ring as well giving them strange looks.

“Okay you know the rules, no prolonged bending for air, water, and fire. Air and fire must generate their own material/force, while earth must use the provided disks and water must use from the source grates on the ring only. Blasts may only be generated with hands and feet. No direct headshots and no physical attacks without bending allowed.” the main referee paused to gesture each team leader to the center of the ring, “This will be a three on three with the best three out of five matches. The team with three wins will advance to the next round and the loser of this match will fight against the other losing team from tuesday for third and fourth tomorrow night. Winning team advances to finals on Friday night, any questions? If not shake and we’ll start the match.” 

The Warrior’s leader was also an airbender, Ruri was her name if he remembered correctly, gave him a smile as she outstretched her hand, “Let’s have a good match and may the best team win.” 

Inclining his head, he nodded in agreement as the shook and retreated to their opposing sections of the ring. 

“I’ll take Ruri, Sora will take Rin, and you take Serena. Sound good?” Sawatari had already come up with an effective strategy. It would probably work the best but Sora tapped his head twice signaling he had a better idea so Yuya shook his head no to Sawatari and turned to Sora for his idea.

“Okay, I’ll take Rin, but you take Ruri and Sawatari will take Serena.” Nodding to Sora, he heard Sawatari mutter about having a better plan and playing favorites but ignored it when the ref called for the countdown signal to start.

When the countdown began, he pushed out all thoughts of anything else but the arena. Staring at the girl across from him, he could see the relation to Yuzu easily. These girls were friends with his brothers, close friends. He wondered if one day they would be friends too.

The buzzer sounded, with a small blow of air on Sora’s disks that immediately launched across the ring, he turned to dodge a blast of air directed at his left foot. Leaping over Sora, they traded places as the worked together to knock Serena back even more. 

Come on, come on, come on, almost there. A loud yelp let him know that Sawatari had learned his lesson about going easy on opponents as he was tag teamed by Rin and Ruri who sent him plummeting over the edge of the ring behind them. Two disks came up behind him and he jumped on each one before flipping forward and propelling them at Rin. 

Unprepared for the double combo, she was knocked off balance and over the edge. The middle section of the ring lit up on their side, signaling that they could move closer to the remaining two girls. Serena and Ruri tried to use the same move they used on Rin but Sora easily took the hits and kept his balance after only being pushed back a small amount. Yuya used the aftermath to lash out with several sweeps of air at different heights at Ruri who was off balance from flipping off the small disks. 

The light on the floor let them move up to the half line with only Serena left. Despite being the only one on her team left standing this round, she went on the all out offensive. Taking a majority of the hits and redirecting them back to Sora to attack, they managed to corner Serena back to the edge of the ring enough where one of Sora’s well placed disks knocked her off.

The first round ended with a victory for them. He didn’t need to pay attention really to notice the stadium’s silence. They had just upset the whole tournament. The favorite team to win just lost to a team that came out of nowhere like it was nothing at all. 

By the time Sawatari made his way back over to them and hit Sora upside the head, the stadium was abuzz with different ideas and opinions on their team. 

A sharp pain cut through his head. Not now, please not now. But when the pain vanished as soon as it came he knew not to look a hippobear in the mouth and quickly refocused on the match. 

The next two rounds went the same as the first with them winning against the Warriors three to zero. Once Sawatari had gotten his ass kicked once, he upped his game and together they separated and eliminated the sisters one by one. 

As the match ended and they shook hands with the Warriors, he felt another sharp pain through his head. Without another word he left the ring and headed back to the locker room. Leaving his teammates and the Warriors behind him. Shutting the locker room door, he sunk to the floor against it. He had been able to ignore it when the match was going on but he couldn’t anymore. His head hurt. 

The lights in the room got blurry. Not now. Why of all times did this have to happen right now? The pain in his head surged again and he buried his face in his hands. Peering through his fingers he saw the room shake. Nope, not today. Screwing his eyes shut he counted down from ten. 

Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five.

He never even made it to four before the world caved beneath him and he fell into the darkness.

 

_“Have you heard?”_

_“The avatar is taking sides with the spirits.”_

_“Why would she do that? They’re the ones invading our home! They have no right to be here!”_

_“Avatar Ray says we shouldn't attack the spirits if they destroy our property because they don’t know better. What kind of excuse is that? If they come onto what I own I’ll do what I want to do.”_

_“Yesterday a few spirits helped save my daughter when she fell into the bay.”_

_“I heard they’re helping people with household chores and tasks in exchange for places to stay.”_

_“Did you hear about the Academia?”_

_“Is this another extremist movement against the spirits? Haven’t others already done this?”_

_“They say that the spirit king is corrupting both our world and the spirit world. That if we kill the spirit king things will return to how they used to be.”_

_“My son joined up with the Academia and said that they’ve managed to help clear out the problem in the spirit world for half the earth kingdom already. That there are towns where the spirits no longer inhabit because their own home is back to how it used to be.”_

_“If we take down the spirit king, everything will go back to normal!”_

_“Avatar Ray is protecting the spirit king and standing against the Academia.”_

_“The spirit king is on a rampage! He killed the avatar!”_

_“No it was Avatar Ray who killed the spirit king! She’s the reason so many innocents died!”_

_“The entire south pole just gone like it was nothing. The avatar didn’t even try to stop the spirit king, did you hear? She defended him! I thought she was our avatar, not the spirits!”_

_“Akaba Leo stopped the spirit king! The spirit king is dead! The earth kingdom is saved!”_

_“Thankfully Akaba Leo stopped the spirit king before he destroyed the earth kingdom, too many innocents were already lost.”_

_“The avatar was poisoned by the spirit king. Any reincarnations from this point forward will not be our avatar. We will purge the cycle before they almost kill us again!”_

Gasping for air he sat up. He was lying in a bed. When had he gotten here? Rubbing his head, he quickly realized he wasn’t actually awake. Well, at least his body wasn’t. Hadn’t he spent years training for this to not happen? All that time just for it to happen anyways? Sure passing out and waking up a spirit happened before when he was younger but that was before he had trained with the masters. Right the masters! If he was where he thought he might be, they would be nearby and they could see spirits so maybe they could see him.

He stood up and went to the door across the room. Opening it, he shielded his eyes from the bright light in the hallway and stepped through. He didn’t step into the hallway though, he went somewhere far different. He was standing in the entrance to a small village that was in the Earth Kingdom from the looks of it. Walking into the village, the scenery rippled around him from peaceful to chaos.

_There’s fire. So much fire all around him. He could hear children crying and people screaming but the fire can’t be stopped. He can only watch as the village around him gets destroyed. Can only see people run away screaming in fear._

Clutching his head, he sunk to his knees. What was this? This wasn’t him, this awful feeling, the scene he was seeing wasn’t real. But he was seeing it, this was him watching the village crumbling before him.

_Can only watch as people attack, but nothing can stop the fire. There’s so much fire. Across the main village road, he stands frozen in fear. What is happening, why is it happening, will it ever stop? Someone next to him tells him to wait._

He turns his head to the side. There’s nothing there. But the voice speaks again, _don’t go. They’ll kill you if you try to stop them. There’s nothing we can do._ He’s not himself again but it’s still him. He looks through their eyes and sees a man with a grey cloak on. His gold eyes stare straight into his soul. He knows who that man is, that’s the spirit king. This vision, it’s a memory. It’s Ray’s memories. 

Before he even realizes it, the scene is changing again. There’s another bright flash of light and he’s standing somewhere else. It’s one of the poles. The awful, gut wrenching feeling he gets tells him it’s the South Pole. At least, what it used to be. He watches himself, watches Ray, teach children how to waterbend. A younger version of Yusei sits in the background talking to a group of people. 

So this is what the South Pole was like. He spins around and takes it all in. He’d been all over the world but never here, simply because it was gone. Directly behind him, there’s the man with the gold eyes. At first he freezes up because he thinks the man can see him, but quickly relaxes and simply turns back to Ray and the children. 

_Odd-Eyes._

But the flash of light engulfs his vision before he can turn back around and ask the man. His gut lurches forward and he barely manages to catch himself this time before he faceplants. There’s an awful static in the air. It’s so loud it’s like he can feel it in his spirit. Pushing himself up, he’s face to face with Academia soldiers. No, no, no. He can hear them yell over the static. Something about firing when ready. That’s when it hits him.

Or at least hits Ray.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a stream of light fade out of existence as it rips through Ray, rips through him. He falls and knows nothing more.


	5. Bonds

“Clear!” 

Lungs filling with air, he sat up and proceeded to nearly hack them out. His chest hurt. What happened? Something touched his shoulder and he readied himself for an attack. Moving that fast though made his stomach lurch and his head spin. 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. You’re safe Yuya.” 

As his vision came into focus, he found himself somewhere he didn’t recognize. He was seconds from panic again when he saw faces he recognized and calmed down. Taking a deep breath, he tried to get air back into his lungs again. Someone tried to put something on his face and he swatted it away.

“It’s an oxygen mask Yuya, it’ll help you breathe again. Let me put it on and you can lay down again.” 

True to their word, they put the mask on and helped him lay back. Wow he was tired. 

“Just rest for a while, we’ll figure things out when you feel better.” 

He thought to ask what needed to be figured out but he was too tired for that. Instead he merely let the darkness take him once more. 

 

When he woke up again, things hurt considerably less. The only source of light was a few computer monitors over to the side of the room. Someone sat in front of it typing away. He couldn’t make out what the screens were displaying, but maybe that’s just because his vision was still a little blurry. 

Sitting up he was relieved to find that while his chest still hurt, it wasn’t as bad as it had been the last time he had woken up. He also still had all of his limbs, nothing felt broken, well his head hurt but it definitely wasn’t broken. Okay so, so far so good. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. At least tried to stand up. He would’ve ended up on the ground had someone not caught him before he toppled over. 

“You were dead for all of like five minutes, trying to do anything that requires you to actually be functioning is probably a bad idea.” It was that teenager who was always with the Masters. Though he couldn’t be much older than Yuya, he looked like the Masters did sometimes, here but still far away. He helped Yuya back up onto the bed before Yuya managed to process what the teen had actually said.

“I died? Like full on heart stopped beating, spirit started leaving died?” 

“Yep.”

“How… I wasn't in a fight was I? Did the Academia find me? Did a large part of the spirit world collapse again? I… can't remember what happened…” he racked his brain for any clues at to what could've happened and found nothing. He had been in the match against the Warriors and then he went to the locker room because his head hurt and, Ray… 

Scrambling he tried to remember where the light had ripped through his chest. A series of bruises that looked like lightning ran over his chest, but that's not what he was looking for. It was right over his heart, a faded white scar he never got. 

“That was not there mere hours ago.”

“Neither were the lightning marks.”

“One: we found you passed out on the floor of the locker room after your teammates said you wouldn't wake up. Two: you stopped breathing before we could even get you medical attention. Three: we needed a miracle when your heart stopped beating and Master Yugi had one, he used lightning restart your heart.” well that explained the lightning bruises, now he wished he had an explanation for the scar that his previous incarnation had gotten and why he now had it. “But this two sided scar is strange, are you aware that it also appears on your back?” 

“Where are the Masters?” 

“Out, we had to readjust our plan for the Sealers and the finals. They’re making sure the Sealers will take the bait so the plan will actually work. They didn’t like having to change it last minute with so many uncertainties but it shouldn’t bother you that much because you never paid attention to the first one.”

“How do you know that?” 

“You spent the whole time trying to remember where you’ve seen me before. I could tell because you stared at me for the whole meeting.”

“So I do know you, but you never used to be with the Masters and then I was with the Fire Lord. Where did I meet you?” 

“You wouldn’t remember, it was around the time you were with Odd-Eyes for a year. With the spirit world collapsing in that area and one of the four Dragons of Chaos dying as well, most of your attention would’ve been elsewhere. I had been around the village looking for the point where the spirit world was collapsing into our world there. I left before the village was attacked, but we’ve met before. When you used to come and get supplies from the village, I was temporary living with the shopkeeper.”

That was right. Every two weeks he would hike to the village to get more supplies once the ones his father had left vanished and he couldn’t survive on his own anymore. Kusanagi had been the nice shopkeeper who helped him out for very little in return. All because when he walked into the shop for the first time, someone else had helped him too. But for the life of him, he still couldn’t remember the teen’s name.

“Yusaku we’re back!” Yuma’s loud voice echoed from nearby. As the lights flickered on, he hurriedly put his shirt back on to hide his the very obvious white scar amidst the darker bruises all over his chest. He didn’t have an actually explanation for why something he saw in a memory or vision killed him. Nor did he want to have to explain what he saw to the Masters. He didn’t want to have to think about what he saw again anytime soon. 

But now that the lights were on he could actually see the room around him better. Yuma was walking into the large room from a small staircase over in the right hand corner of the room. The walls were a pale blue and the floor was tiled with grey and white patterns. There were several doors along the North and South walls. Aside from the bed he was currently laying on which looked like it had been pushed in here from somewhere else now that he compared it to the rest of the room, the only other furniture aside from the monitor set up to his left with a few chairs, was a large table to his right where Yuma was currently setting down several bags of what appeared to be food. 

“Welcome back, I was just telling Yuya about recent events. It seems he doesn’t currently remember what caused his temporary death. I believe another part of the spirit world collapsed somewhere far away. I felt it almost immediately after you left.” Wow. Yusaku could lie ten times better than he could. 

“But why did Yuya feel it so long before you did?” Judai walked into the room next also caring several bags of food on his arms. 

“Probably because Yuya is more connected to the spirit world and if it happened far from here, there would be a delay until Yusaku would notice it, but we never were able to judge how Yuya might react to a collapse because we were constantly with him in the spirit world before.” Yusei reasoned as he entered the room. Yugi walked in behind them closing the door before making his way over to him and Yusaku as the others set down bags and sorted through their contents.

“Feeling better now I hope. Any severe pain or anything Yuya?” Yugi asked as he approached. 

“Only severe pains of hunger. Yusaku told me what you did, thank you Yugi, you saved my life.” He hoped that would be a good enough answer to keep Yugi from looking at his new bruises that actually kind of did hurt, but he didn’t want the Masters to worry. 

“I only did what I could.” Yugi looked down at his hands and clenched them before looking back up and giving him a warm smile. “You both are probably starving, we brought food to discuss the plan over and I got something special for you Yuya.”

“For me?” He was so confused. What would Yugi have gotten him?

“Yup, you’re the only one with a birthday tomorrow of course!” 

That’s right his birthday… He had forgotten with everything that had happened. The Masters used to be the ones to celebrate it with him after all. Even after all this time, they still...

“Only if Yusei cooks birthday muffins for breakfast.” Judai interjected from his seat at the table.

“I can do that.” 

With a whoop, both Judai and Yuma high fived before Judai threw his hands up and yelled, “Fuck yeah! Muffins!” 

Maybe things hadn’t gone the way he thought they would but at least they were still okay. Things were still going to turn out alright. So when Yugi offered him a hand, he let himself be led to a promise of good food and great company.

He should’ve known that things would never stay that way.


	6. Showdown

The lights of Neo Domino City outshone the stars in the night sky above. Only the North star managed to shine through against the light from the waterfront. The particular building he had found himself atop was completely dark for the most part. The building stood above the others and belonged to a company by the name of LDS as advertised largely on each side of it. The probable office building was the perfect place to watch the city. It also gave him a bird’s eye view of the probending stadium right next door. 

Tonight was the Fortune Cup’s final match and it was also the night the Seal of Orichalcos was going to be attacking said stadium in an attempt to make a statement about their newly acquired power. By taking out some of the city’s greatest known benders, well that would be one way to do it. Flashy too, can’t really say he blamed them there. 

_“Are you in position?”_ A voice echoed in his ear and he switched the communication line of his earpiece open with the swipe of his thumb. 

“I’ve been in position for the past twenty minutes, I think you’re just slow Yusaku.” Laughter could be heard from the other end of the line.

_“Sure, and you didn’t eat the last muffin this morning. Also check for schematics and exits.”_

“Yusei made them for my birthday, I have a right to eat as many as I want. Just because you’re his favorite doesn’t entitle you to unlimited food.” reaching up, he pulled his goggles down and turned them on. A red outline encased the building as Yusaku pulled up various exits and floor plans in his peripherals. “Running smoothly as always. Are the other’s in position yet?” 

_“You want to bring up the argument of favorites again? Okay Avatar Yuya, whatever you say. Now get into character, phantom.”_

Pulling up the red bandanna around his neck, he made sure it was tightly secured, and then double checked his gear. With the press of a few buttons on the band around his wrist, he turned the voice amplifier in the bandanna on. Hopefully this would be over quick. The calm before the storm always left him excited. With a sharp trill, the signal went off and fireworks exploded above the stadium. It was showtime.

“Ladies and Gentlemen!” with a short running start, he jumped over to the stadium. Crashing through the skylight, he made his grand entrance to the stage. “Would the Seal of Orichalcos kindly come out and fight this time so we can have a grand battle or are you just going to run away like last time. Please, this game of cat and mouse is only entertaining for so long.” 

Some people were screaming, some were up and running, and some simply watched the scene in front of them unfold. On his left, three figures approached. A quick update from Yusaku let him know it was the Dragons. On his right, another group of three approached. That wasn’t the opposing team for nights match. Good, so they weren’t going to run any longer.

A flash to his left warned him of an incoming projectile. A sidestep and he turned to sideways to glance at the stands.

_“Shit, they’ve got guards standing in the stands with various weaponry. Focus on the team in front of you, the others will take care of the extras. This is your grand show after all.”_

In front of him, the three Sealers took fighting stances. They pulled off their over shirts to reveal they all were wearing those damn electric gloves. Well this just got significantly harder, but nothing he couldn’t handle.

Before he could even formulate a solid plan of attack, two blasts of water knocked the left guy back. Not enough to knock him off the ring, but enough to push the bald man out of formation. The right guy was hit with a strong blast of air that swept him off his feet. His hands caught his fall but he glared something fierce across the ring.

“Look, your whole epic battle about justice or whatever is nice and all but we came here to win a match and leave. We don’t have time today to deal with your bullshit so if you could - ” three disks came from behind him at various heights and knocked the leader to the edge of the ring. “- fuck off, that’d be perfect.” 

What did they think they were doing? They were just pissing the Sealers off and they were already to die for their cause but now they might just bring the rest of the place down with them if they got pissy enough. 

Sighing, he blew his brothers back and redirected the lightning shot at him from the glove back at baldy. It wouldn’t even be enough to fry the stupid thing yet, so he couldn’t even get closer. Plus now he had others behind him to worry about.

“Look you think you’re tough probenders but these guys are out of your league so if you - and none of you are listening.”

The waterbender ran right past him with a yell and charged baldy. On his right, the airbender came through with several swipes through the air to try and knock glare-man off balance again. Four more disks wound around the outside of the ring to try and take the leader out from behind. Deciding they could at least provide a decent distraction, he charged the leader with several fire blasts around the man’s feet. 

A roll to the left dodged the swipe at his head. Blast upward. Dodge again. Left hook. Duck. Kick around the back. Take a hit and redirect it right into the glove.

Rolling back he jumped up to see the overloaded glove be thrown over the edge of the ring and explode. Alright one glove down, two more to - something slammed into him. 

He managed to redirect most of the force, but still fell to his knees as the waterbender landed hard next to him. A blast of lightning flew right at his face and he barely had time to block it with his arms. The band on his wrist and his bandana crackled with electricity. Rendering them useless, he chucked them at baldy for a quick distraction before charging. 

Blow left. Swing right. Duck. Jab middle. Sweep the feet and grab. With a knee to the chin and a wrench to the left, he pulled the glove off baldy and pushed it into the wall under the bleachers where it promptly exploded before the pieces vanished into the water below. Two down, one more to - 

“Stop or the kid gets it.” Glare-man held his glove point blank at the waterbender. For the first time that night - and probably in his life, he could clearly see his brother’s face. It was like he was staring in a mirror. Something in his mind screamed at him.

“Let him go.”

The man laughed at that and the two glove-less members hauled the other two over. Both were lax against the ropes around them, their faces marred with small cuts and bruises. Something in his gut twisted at the sight. 

“You of all people should know that’s not how I play, Phantom.” 

Whipping around he saw the man he was looking for up in the announcer’s box. Dartz stood flanked by lackeys. The lights cut out and all that remained was the awful glow of the gloves. Dartz stood illuminated by his own glove as he drew two fingers across his throat. Turning back around he could only watch as the glove touched the waterbender’s face and _his brother’s scream_ echoed throughout the stadium. 

He saw white. 

Water shot from around the ring and wove around the stadium. Disks flew out of the floor and shot through the air looking for their targets. Lights shattered from the force of the wind that now rippled through the stadium, pulling the disks to go faster and faster. Fire glowed a brilliant blue as it torched the gloves on his hands. 

He could hear the screams in the background. Flying disks found their targets and ice locked the offenders in place. He could hear Dartz yelling over the speaker system but it was all background noise. The only thing that mattered was the scene in front of him. A swipe of his hand shot the two gloveless men straight off the ring into the now empty pit below. The remaining man, shaking in fear, pulled the glove back from the waterbender’s face. Awful shades of red, white, and pink covered his brother’s skin. Something inside him screamed.

The glove was still too close to his face. He was in front of the offender, disks halted and flew back to the ready position all around him as he lifted the man by his collar. The man shrieked and struggled, but he didn’t care to hear his pleas. A kick to the gut launched the man across the arena straight into the far wall. Cracks ripped through the concrete walls as it gave under the force. The disks flew at him before he could fall and stuck him into the wall. 

Turning back around, the waterbender merely sat where he was. He kneeled down in front of him and called the remaining water around the arena to the ring. 

“This is going to hurt, but please bear with me for now.” 

Coating his hands with the water, he pressed them gently to his brother’s face. Slowly, his hands glowed and he absorbed all the heat he could from the wounds till there wasn’t any water left to work with. A small whimper let him know his brother was still conscious as he reached for his earpiece. 

“Playmaker, I need Stardust here _now._ ”

“Already here.” A tall man, with a blue bandana on his face, came up next to him and turned the bender to face him. The blue bandana didn’t allow him to see Yusei’s facial features, but he only needed to see his eyes to know that it wasn’t going to be good. “We need to get him back to the base, I can’t heal this type of wound with what I have on me right now. Grab the other two, we’re getting out of here.”

Cradling the injured waterbender, he jumped the gap to the bleachers, and ran out of sight. A hand grabbed his wrist and he turned to face Yuma. 

“Phantom-”

“I know, leave now, worry later.” 

Yuma grabbed the airbender and he grabbed the earthbender. Both were still out of it, but thankfully they were somewhat conscious by now. A burst of air allowed them to jump the gap and follow Yusei. Judai grabbed the airbender from Yuma and carried the kid out while Yuma helped him move the other. 

Getting in the back of the van, he only managed to look at his his brothers, who he failed to protect, one last time before passing out.

 

_He was standing in the spirit world again. He watched a younger version of himself run to greet his father in a hug. The younger Yuya is dressed in blues and is probably back from today’s waterbending lessons. He should’ve been about twelve at that time, which also means this visit is right before they left the spirit world._

_It was also the visit that changed everything he thought of his father. The man he had looked up to all his life was a different person in his eyes after that day. This was when his father told him the secrets he’d been keeping from Yuya his whole life._

_“Yuya, I know you’ve asked me a lot of questions over the years about why things are the way they are. About your mother, why you have to remain in the spirit world, and so many more.”_

_Yushou sat down at the kitchen table across from the younger version of himself. The house he had spent every year he could remember in was small but full of love. Even when his father had to go off and leave, he was never alone. All the spirit friends he made and the human ones too. They were always more than enough to him even if he never knew his mother._

_But all that was about to be crushed._

_“When you were three, you suddenly became incredibly ill. All the doctors in Neo Domino City couldn’t figure it out. Then, one day, you got to the point where you awoke your dormant avatar spirit to try and save yourself. Though when you did, your young body couldn’t handle the stress and sent your spirit to the spirit world. The amount of power you released let the whole world know that the avatar had returned, but you were nowhere near ready to learn you were the avatar, much less even firebend more than a little wisp of flame. I thought that if you had some time in the spirit world you would be able to adjust to the world as it currently was. But that same night, we received news of the Academia already gearing up. People were already coming after the avatar and your power. I knew the only way you could be safe then was if the world thought you were dead. So with a few select members of the white lotus, I faked your death.”_

_“You what.” Yuya sat up at the table and stared at his father in disbelief._

_“We had called the master healer from the Southern Water Tribe just the week prior. When he arrived I told him my plan and with a few other members of the white lotus, we set it into motion. I told your mother and your brothers that you didn’t make it the very next day.”_

_“Brothers? I have brothers?” Yuya’s voice was barely more than a whisper, but he knew what he had said back then, what he had felt like._

_“With your spirit still in the spirit world, the frail and weakened body you left behind made it look like you actually had died.”_

_“So somewhere out there you buried an empty casket? You told my mother and brothers that I was dead? They’ve lived for years thinking I’m dead and I’ve lived for years without my family because of what? You thought they couldn’t keep a secret? You thought it’d be best if the world thought it’s avatar was dead and not just in an undisclosed location?” he could feel the tears building up in his eyes as if he was the one hearing this for the first time and not witnessing the memory._

_“You don’t understand.”_

_“Why, why tell me this now if you were so desperate to keep it a secret?”_

_“There were spies in the white lotus, you think I wanted to watch my family suffer through the death of a son and a brother? It was the only way I could think to protect all of you but it still wasn’t enough.”_

_“That wasn’t enough?”_

_“The Academia is growing. Their technology is evolving and they know the white lotus is hiding something in the spirit world. Before dawn tomorrow, we will be leaving.”_

_“Oh, so now that your plans are falling apart it’s time to let others in on your secrets? I don’t even have a choice? Master Yugi said I start firebending mastery tomorrow. What are you going to do about that? Or are you just going to lie and tell me that what I know is enough. What else are you keeping from me?”_

_“It’s for the best that you leave before the Academia even catches wind of the avatar. You and I will be moving to the ancient city of the Sun Warriors and you will learn from their texts and forms.”_

_“Just like that? That’s it, why are you so worried over a small possibility they actually manage to find this place or me?” Standing up, Yuya threw his hands into the air in disbelief._

_“It’s not that simple.”_

_“Bullshit, I’ve seen what you can do. What the white lotus can do.”_

_“Listen to me for five minutes Yuya!” Yushou stood as well and stared him down._

_“Fine. Talk.”_

_“The Academia managed to track down your mother and brothers. We’ve been keeping tabs on their spies and students for years. One of them, however, managed to get your eldest brother. We got him out two weeks after the first took him, but now we fear they’ll figure out you aren’t actually dead.” his father looked at the ground._

_“Why? Why now after all this time and effort you put into keeping this all a secret, why now?”_

_“I know I’ve made some awful choices in the past.” looking up to met Yuya’s eyes, his voice dropped, “And as low as you may think of me now, I’m not the man I once was who was foolish enough to believe one of his son’s life was more important than the other. But even now, the academia cannot know the avatar still lives, which is why you can’t stay here anymore.” Yushou stood and offered a hand to Yuya._

_“Are you actually going to stay this time?”_

_“Until you complete your training I will stay, but -” Yushou turned his head but still wouldn’t look Yuya in the eyes. Even then, he still had been running away._

_“If you’re needed else where you’ll have to leave.”_

_“- if something else comes up… I’m sorry, Yuya that’s the way it has to be. Any reason I leave for, I will come back I promise.”_

_He should’ve known by that point that his father’s promises meant nothing._


	7. A Hopeful Reunion

Slowly the world came back to him in bits and pieces. He could hear the telltale beeping of a heart monitor nearby. That meant they were probably back at base. Nope, they were definitely back at base because upon trying to open his eyes there was a harsh light that could only ever come from one place, Kaiba Corporation's basement. 

The first time he ever came here, he couldn’t believe it. Kaiba Seto actually letting this happen in his own basement? There was just no way. Even if he had never met the man in person, just the stories about him were enough to know this would be too much trouble and effort to support. All for nothing but a few secret wins under the radar? But when Yugi took him here years ago, there had no way he could argue it anymore. There was a story behind why their base of operations was under the world’s supplier of cutting edge technology, but he still had yet to hear it. 

Sitting up and seeing the corporation’s logo on the wall was a weird sight he didn’t think he’d ever get used to. It was like trying to get used to the fact he had brothers which his father had just unceremoniously dropped on his head and then vanished less than a week later. 

Yet here they were, right across from him. 

“I demand to see them! They’re all I have left and if you get in my way I’ll show you like I showed those security guards!”

“Yoko wait! They’re resting! Don’t barge in or -”

The door was thrown open with such force he jumped in shock. A woman with blonde hair had a death grip on the door handle as she stepped into the room. Her head was turned over her shoulder and he could see Yugi in the background looking extremely flustered. 

“Or what? Is there something else you’ve spent years keeping secrets -” turning back around, she froze in the doorway. “- about…”

“This is no longer my problem.” Another voice from the other room stated. He heard a door open and close, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the woman in front of him. It was like she was staring into his soul. Her green eyes were searching for something in his own but what?

Somewhere nearby, a voice asked, “Mom what are you doing here?” 

Mom… this was his mom. He could feel the tears well up in his eyes. He watched her stand in the doorway froze. _‘Yu… ya…’_ He watched her piece it together and nodded slowly as she mouthed his name. 

Training to be the avatar from a young age had left him taking a lot of hits over the years. Physical, elemental, spiritual, and emotional. But this, this was something entirely different. 

He couldn’t even move as the woman, his mom, rushed at him from the doorway. The impact of her sweeping him off the bed and into a bone crushing hug left him breathless and lightheaded. Not that he really cared. He was trying to hug her with just as much force. This woman was his mom. Someone he had always dreamed about when he had felt so alone, someone who would’ve been there for him no matter what and loved him unconditionally, someone who he’d been missing for a grand majority of his short life. 

He didn’t even try to fight the tears. He buried his face in her neck as she clutched the back of his shirt like he’d vanish from her hold any second. 

“Yuya, my baby Yuya, you, you’re okay. Oh my spirits you’re okay! You’re alive! You’re here! I’ve missed you so much my baby Yuya!” She pulled back and he could only stare at her in disbelief. 

“I, I’ve missed you too mom. I, I’ve missed you so much.” He rubbed at the tears rolling down his cheeks but if anything it only made them both cry harder. 

“Yuya… as in the Yuya who died when we were five… who we buried ten years ago… the same Yuya that’s our little brother… that Yuya?” A soft voice cut through their reunion. If he wasn’t so ridiculously happy, maybe he would’ve noticed the tension in the room. Maybe he would’ve cared that he looked like a small child being held by his mom like this, but even turning to face his siblings with red, puffy, tear-filled eyes, he just couldn’t bring himself to care. 

“Yuto, Yugo, Yuri, I don’t know what memories you have of him other than his false gravestone, but this is him. This is your brother, Yuya.” His mom let him go and despite his legs feeling like they would give out at any second, he managed to stand and face them. 

Yuto, Yuri, and Yugo. Those were the brothers he’d never met. The airbender, the earthbender, and the waterbender. Half hidden by bandages, Yugo stared with awe from his spot on the opposing bed. Yuto and Yuri sat on either side like sentries and that’s when he remembered.

Yesterday’s incident hit him like a boulder. 

The mission. They had to stop Seal of Orichalcos before they could use the new weapon they had acquired. The power to take away people’s bending abilities, even just temporarily could be devastating. Not only that, but the fact they were targeting the finalist of the fortune cup. Probending was one of Neo Domino City’s pride and joys for both benders and non benders alike. If they succeeded, the aftershocks could tear the city’s inner workings apart. They were getting desperate if their defenses were so low that they actually took the bait offered to them the day before the finals. But they had been desperate too. It showed. The bandages over Yugo’s face was a reminder that they almost failed. 

“How?” Yuto cut through the building tension, “How is this our brother, the one who is supposed to be dead, how can you be so sure?” 

That’s right. None of them knew about Yushou’s grand lie. For all they knew he could be anyone. They had seen him on the verge of death, and if Yushou had told them their brother wouldn’t be coming back, they had no reason not to trust their own father. 

“While I can’t deny it’s not weird, I’d know my baby boy anywhere.” His mom looped an arm of his shoulder and pulled him into a side hug. She rubbed his arm and he rested his head on her shoulder. It was like all the tension and stress in his body just melted. The last time he’d ever felt this relaxed was with Odd-Eyes. “Though I can’t help but wonder where you’ve been all these years and what really happened. My idiot husband, I mean, your idiot father is no doubt the reason.”

“Yeah, I, I guess I have some explaining to do.” 

 

He must’ve fallen asleep at some point when their conversation lulled. The room was dark now, the only light coming from the next room through the slightly ajar door. All three of his brothers still sat across the room. Yuri had slumped over against the wall and now had a blanket draped across him. Yuto had his head on the edge of Yugo’s bed and a blanket over his shoulders. 

It was still strange. Having been away from them for so long. They made it seem like he had just been gone for a year or two and not his whole life. Like he hadn’t been “dead” but rather just off elsewhere. There were so many questions he had still. And that was just for his family, what about the Sealers? About the dying world? What was he supposed to do next? 

And the Ray…

“If you worry anymore your head might explode.” Yugo snickered at him from across the room. Wait what? Was he that obvious? “That doesn’t seem like resting to me.”

He couldn’t help but stare at Yugo. Even with half his face in bandages he was still smiling. Before he could stop himself, he blurted out the question burning in his mind, “Aren’t you afraid of what will happen next?”

“Of course,” Yugo looked away, eyes downcast. What a stupid question, his brother was injured and here he was bothering him with questions about his own worries. Yugo met his eyes and smiled again before he continued, “I’m terrified but that doesn’t mean I still can’t have hope.”

“How can you? How can you sit there knowing and still have hope?” he didn’t mean to sound so desperate but his voice cracked when he finished his question. Yugo merely rubbed the back of his head and looked away. Yuya looked at his hands in his lap. Way to completely crush any sense of a conversation. Like his injured brother could do anything about problems that weren’t even his. Not only that but his injury too.

“Once I asked to play with my little brother,” looking up he watched Yugo. He was sitting with a small smile on his face, not meeting his eyes, “my parents told me I couldn’t because he didn’t feel well. I asked the next day, and the day after, and the day after, and I kept asking. Eventually it got so bad that when I asked my mom if I could finally play with my little brother she broke down crying and told me that I might never get to play with him again. That my brother was incredibly ill and might not survive or be able to play with me ever again. I told her there was no way that would ever happen and that my brother would get better.”

This was...

“Doctors came and left. No one believed my brother would make it to his fifth birthday. When I asked why they told me it’s because he was getting so incredibly weak he wouldn’t be strong enough to survive even if he ever showed signs of getting better. I laughed at them. Doctors and professionals, family and friends, I laughed at all of them. I told them that my brother could breathe fire. My brother could breathe fire which meant he was at least part dragon and that dragons didn’t lose to anything. That no matter how injured or sick they got, that one day they would get better because dragons are just that strong so if my brother is part dragon he’ll get better too.”

All this time...

“When they held the funeral I didn’t understand. All the hope i had riding on my brother being able to pull through crashed and burned when we moved houses and I knew he would never be coming back. But I knew that my brother had fought with all the strength he could until he couldn’t anymore. He gave me hope when no one else around me had any time after time.” Yugo gave him a giant smile, bandages sliding over half of it as he shifted. 

“We called ourselves the dragons at Yugo’s insistence that we’d give people hope. Hope to stand up for others.” Yuto...

“Hope to fight for what they believed in” Yuri...

“Hope for a brighter and happier future.” They...

He really did try not to cry, but how could they have, how could they have gone through all of that and still kept on going? Even when everything fell apart and nothing was like it was supposed to be? He didn’t understand, he couldn’t do something like that. “But what did that hope give you? Did you really believe that after all of it your hope got you anywhere? How can you keep going if you know it’s just going to end in tragedy?”

“But it didn’t end in tragedy. Sure it was tough and there were times when I just wanted to quit. But I had a duty to inspire hope in others when my brother no longer could.” They really, just for him...

“Speaking of which,” Yuri pointed a finger at him, “it’s time for you to step up and pull your weight slacker, there’s only so much we can do.”

“I can’t believe you.” Yuto threw a pillow over the bed at Yuri’s face. He hiccuped on his laughter and tried to wipe his eyes.

Yugo ignored the two and just continued with his story, “And besides, my hope did get me somewhere. Ten years later, after everyone gave up, the dragon returned stronger than ever before. My little brother got better and I think that’s all the proof I’ll ever need. Things can be incredibly scary and maybe they won’t ever turn out right, but maybe just maybe, if you have faith and hope, a miracle will happen.”

“That or someone will pull a fast one on the world and fake the avatar’s death for ten years.”

Another pillow flew over the bed. “Honestly Yuri, Yugo is having the most heartfelt and well constructed thought he’ll ever have and you do this.” 

“Hey!”

“Thanks, I, I really appreciate it Yugo.” 

“That’s what family’s for little bro!” Yugo gave him a big thumbs up and another grin.

Yuri cleared his throat and leaned on the small stack of pillows on his lap, “What is bothering you so much anyways? If it’s this idiot’s face, trust me he’ll be fine.”

“I’m right here you know.” 

Yuto came over and sat by his bed instead of Yugo’s. “If you want to talk about it, we’re here for you now. I know you don’t really know us all that much and you’ve probably changed since you were little, but you’re still our brother. Nothing you tell us will change that.” 

He thought about not telling them. He really did. He hadn’t told anyone because he thought he was just making things up at first, but he kept having those dreams. So much so that he felt like he lived the memory. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he told them. “I’ve keep having these dreams, or visions, or something. At first I thought they were like nightmares, but now I can’t tell anymore if they’re for real or not.”

“So you’ve seen it too then,” They all looked over at Yuri when he spoke up. That confident aura he had given off earlier had completely vanished. He took a deep breath and looked Yuya straight in the eye, “the deaths of the Avatar Ray and the Spirit King.”


End file.
